It’s not just his post-snap accuracy, or impeccable decision making when targeting receivers. His biggest influence comes before the snap.

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“The biggest thing Tom does for us is to try to keep us out of those bad plays where we have 5, 10 percent chance of really being successful, whether it’s a coverage or a blitz or an alignment that they give us, and he sees that what we’ve got called just isn’t what we want to be in,” Belichick said. “That wasn’t why we called the play, was to run it against that particular look. Then sometimes, he’ll be able to get out of those and get us something that, like I said, gives us more of a fair fight.”

Brady is certainly among the best in the league when it comes to pre-snap reads. If the Patriots call a running play and the defense loads the box with eight defenders, not every quarterback would have the wherewithal to audible to a pass play, or vice versa. Brady, like the other all-time greats, knows how to do that, and almost never fails in that regard.

“That’s a big job of the quarterback in our league is to not just manage the game in terms of getting the ball out of bounds and the clock and stuff like that, but also managing the game in terms of giving the offense the chance to run plays that are competitive because defenses can get in certain alignments and really make it tough on you. Tom does a great job of that,” Belichick continued.

Part of the reason the Patriots are so successful year in and year out is because of exactly that. Brady knows when to get out of a play that won’t work and into one that can gain positive yardage, keeping the Patriots ahead of the sticks.